Related Articles

KYIV— Ukraine warned on Saturday it would take Russia to an arbitration court if talks with Moscow failed to roll back hikes in the price of natural gas that Kiev called an act of economic aggression.

Russia nearly doubled the price Ukraine pays for its gas this week, forcing Kiev, whose economy is in chaos, to enter into emergency talks with European neighbors to boost cheaper imports from the West.

Ukraine accuses Russia of using the price hikes as a tool of economic pressure after popular protests in Kiev ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovich in February, souring relations between the two former Soviet republics.

Russia seized Ukraine's Crimea region and formally annexed it last month widening the dispute into the biggest stand-off between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War.

"Our Russian neighbors have carried out yet another form of aggression against Ukraine - aggression through its gas supplies. This price is the highest on European territory and it is not an economic but a political price," said Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk at a cabinet meeting.

Ukraine is still in talks with Russia to cut the gas price, which Moscow raised to $485 per 1,000 cubic meters from a previously discounted price of $268.50, making it now by far the highest price paid in Europe for Russian gas.

The Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom says that on average it charges its European customers between $370 and $380 per 1,000 cubic meters.

Ukraine imports more than half its gas needs from Russia.

"If we don't come to an agreement [with Russia] then there is a procedure laid out in our contract, going to the arbitration court in Stockholm," Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Prodan told journalists before a cabinet meeting.

"We are not trying to break our contract but to set up a fair price like in Europe," he said.

Alexei Miller, Gazprom's chief executive officer, said in a Rossiya 24 television interview recorded on Friday and aired on Saturday that Ukraine had accepted the new price.

"The gas price included in Ukraine's budget is the price that is already at work today, $485, and this confirms one more time that Ukraine recognizes it as a market [price], recognizes the current agreement and is ready to pay that price for our gas," Miller said.

According to a 2009 contract, the price is calculated on the basis of several fuel product prices and Yatseniuk said there were no economic grounds to increase prices for gas.

In raising the price, Russia scrapped two discounts. One was introduced in 2010 when Ukraine agreed to extend terms for Russia's Black Sea Fleet in Crimea until 2042 and the second was agreed in December after Yanukovich scrapped a trade deal with the EU in favor of closer ties to Russia.

Miller said that the discounts have disappeared "all strictly according to the contract" because Kiev has not paid for deliveries. He said the unpaid bill rose to $2.2 billion as of the end of March from $1.4 billion in December.

"They [Ukraine] fully understand why this discount has disappeared, they fully understand that the cancellation of the discount is Ukraine's fault," Miller said, adding: "We cannot supply gas for free."

Emergency talks

Since Yanukovich left power Russia has increasingly pressured Kiev over its failure to pay for past gas debts. Russia and Ukraine clashed over gas pricing in 2006 and then again in 2009 when Russia turned supplies off to Ukraine during winter months, causing supply shortfalls further on in Europe.

Energy Minister Prodan said Ukraine would not siphon off gas from pipelines that cross its territory to deliver Russian gas to European consumers if Moscow turned off gas to Ukraine.

"Ukraine will fully carry out all obligations on gas transit. Ukraine has not even thought of taking that gas," he said.

Ahead of Saturday's cabinet meeting, Yatseniuk ordered Prodan to carry out talks with energy official in Brussels to discuss "concrete steps" towards importing gas from Europe.

He said on Friday Kiev was carrying out emergency talks with Slovakia, Hungary and Poland on supplies of gas from the West by reversing pipeline flow through infrastructure designed to carry Russian gas to Europe.

Gazprom's Miller said that reverse supplies from Slovakia may not be physically possible, which could mean it would be a "virtual reverse just on paper".

"This issue requires a very careful study and consideration," he said. "In particular, I think that European companies that are willing to reverse supply gas to Ukraine should very carefully, very carefully, look at the legality of such operations."

Currently around 40 percent of Russia's exports to Europe flow through Ukraine, with the rest sent to Germany via the Nord Stream pipeline under the Baltic Sea and via the Yamal Europe pipe through Belarus and Poland.

Yatseniuk said the reverse gas could save Ukraine, which is on the brink of default, between $120 and $150 per 1,000 cubic meters. Ukraine consumed 50 billion cubic meters in 2013.

Prodan said Ukraine wanted to buy gas from neighboring Slovakia, but Slovakia's gas company had declined to allow Ukrainians to examine its current transit facilities.

Slovakia's Eustream, which operates the gas network, denied it had turned away Ukrainian requests to inspect its facilities.

Slovakia is the EU gateway for Ukrainian supplies, with the potential to reverse flow more than 20 bcm into Ukraine, which could meet over a third of the country's gas demand, but not in a hurry. Ukrainian officials said they see possible imports from Slovakia at 10 bcm annually.

Analysts said it could take another six months for gas to actually start flowing from Slovakia to Ukraine, and that the link was unlikely to flow at maximum reverse capacity.

Manned deep space missions are still a long way off, but space agencies are already testing procedures, equipment and human stamina for operations in extreme environment conditions. Small groups of astronauts take turns in spending days in an underwater lab, off Florida’s southern coast, simulating future missions to some remote world. VOA’s George Putic reports.

Video

Manned deep space missions are still a long way off, but space agencies are already testing procedures, equipment and human stamina for operations in extreme environment conditions. Small groups of astronauts take turns in spending days in an underwater lab, off Florida’s southern coast, simulating future missions to some remote world. VOA’s George Putic reports.

Video

Fifty years ago, lawmakers approved, and U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signed, the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The measure outlawed racial discrimination in voting, giving millions of blacks in many parts of the southern United States federal enforcement of the right to vote. Correspondent Chris Simkins introduces us to some civil rights leaders who were on the front lines in the struggle for voting rights.

Video

Billions of dollars of so-called ‘dirty money’ from the proceeds of crime - especially from Russia - are being laundered through the London property market, according to anti-corruption activists. As Henry Ridgwell reports from the British capital, the government has pledged to crack down on the practice.

Video

Ottawa, Illinois, is the hometown of W.D. Boyce, who founded the Boy Scouts of America in 1910. In Ottawa, where Scouting remains an important part of the legacy of the community, the end of the organization's ban on openly gay adult leaders was seen as inevitable. VOA's Kane Farabaugh reports.

Video

Artificial limbs, including the most complex of them – the human hand – are getting more life-like and useful due to constant advances in tiny hydraulic, pneumatic and electric motors called actuators. But now, as VOA’s George Putic reports, scientists in Germany say the future of the prosthetic hand may lie not in motors but in wires that can ‘remember’ their shape.

Video

A British pro-democracy group has accused Russia of abusing the global law enforcement agency Interpol by requesting the arrest and extradition of political opponents. A new report by the group notes such requests can mean the accused are unable to travel and are often unable to open bank accounts. VOA's Henry Ridgwell reports.

Video

Talks on a major new trade agreement among 12 Pacific Rim nations are said to be nearing completion in Hawaii. Some trade experts say the "positive atmosphere" at the discussions could mean a deal is within reach, but there is still hard bargaining to be done over many issues and products, including U.S. drugs and Japanese rice. VOA's Jim Randle reports.

Video

Earth is in the midst of its sixth mass extinction. The last such event was caused by an asteroid 66 million years ago. It killed off the dinosaurs and practically everything else. So scientists are in a race against time to classify the estimated 11 million species alive today. So far only 2 million are described by science, and researchers are worried many will disappear before they even have a name. VOA’s Rosanne Skirble reports.

Video

Scientists have long been trying to develop an effective protection and cure for malaria - one of the deadliest diseases that affects people in tropical areas, especially children. As the World Health Organization announces plans to begin clinical trials of a promising new vaccine, scientists in South Africa report that they too are at an important threshold. George Putic reports, they are testing a compound that could be a single-dose cure for malaria.

Video

The latest issue of 'New York' magazine features 35 women who say they were drugged and raped by film and television celebrity Bill Cosby. The women are aged from 44 to 80 and come from different walks of life and races. The magazine interviewed each of them separately, but Zlatica Hoke reports their stories are similar.

Video

The United States is promising not to give up its fight against what Secretary of State John Kerry calls the “scourge” of modern slavery. Officials released the country’s annual human trafficking report Monday – a report that’s being met with some criticism. VOA’s National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin has more from the State Department.

Video

Abandoned more than 50 years ago, the underground streetcar station in Washington D.C.’s historic DuPont Circle district is about to be reborn. The plan calls for turning the spacious underground platforms - once meant to be a transportation hub, - into a unique space for art exhibitions, presentations, concerts and even a film set. Roman Mamonov has more from beneath the streets of the U.S. capital. Joy Wagner narrates his report.

Video

Greece has replaced Italy as the main gateway for migrants into Europe, with more than 100,000 arrivals in the first six months of 2015. Many want to move further into Europe and escape Greece’s economic crisis, but they face widespread dangers on the journey overland through the Balkans. VOA's Henry Ridgwell reports.

Video

After the closure of a major rubbish dump a week ago, the streets of Beirut are filling up with trash. Having failed to draw up a plan B, politicians are struggling to deal with the problem. John Owens has more for VOA from Beirut.

Video

A U.N. climate conference in December aims to produce an ambitious agreement to fight heat-trapping greenhouse gases. But many local governments are not waiting, and have drafted their own climate action plans. That’s the case with Paris — which is getting special attention, since it’s hosting the climate summit. Lisa Bryant takes a look for VOA at the transformation of the French capital into an eco-city.